At a time when dark clouds are gathering over the local stock market, the dividends paid out by issuers listed at BSE are of paramount importance of any investment decision.

Highest dividend yields at Alro Slatina and Alumil

Brokers polled by Wall-Street say that a profitable investment venue would be a mix between first-tier issuers, such as BRD and FICs and second tier issuers such as Alumil and Santierul Naval Orsova.

In the regulated market of Bucharest Stock Exchange, the highest yield of the dividend returned was at Alro Slatina (ALR). The company said yesterday it would pay out a net dividend of 0.24108 lei/share, which raises the dividend yield (DivY) up to 32.88% according to yesterday’s trading quotation.

The news was received with enthusiasm by investors, the shares of aluminum producer scaling up 14.29% yesterday.

Alumil Rom Industry (ALU), Romania’s second largest aluminum producer, said it would pay out a net dividend of 0.2436 lei/share of 9.49 mln lei profit for 2008. The yield of the dividend to be distributed will thus stand at 31.44%.

Both companies in aluminum processing industry marked a lower profit on dwindling demand due to global financial crisis, which was reflected in the value of the dividend up for approval.

Santierul Naval Orsova (SNO) is another major issuer in top of best dividend stocks after it proposed a net dividend of 0.63 lei/share. The value of the dividend remained flat compared to 2007 fiscal year, although the net profit doubled to 15.4 mln lei.

Issuers who said ‘no’ to dividend payout

The companies who decided to withhold the dividend payout for 2008 FY, and to use the profit for reserves or investments are Petrom (SNP), FIC Oltenia (SIF5), Antibiotice (ATB), Zentiva (SCD) and Bermas (BRM).

Nevertheless, the surprise came from FIC Oltenia, who after eight years is co